Hardware Requirements

Overview

Sizing a VergeOS deployment starts with understanding the hardware requirements for each node role. Because VergeOS is a complete infrastructure operating system — not a collection of separate products — its base overhead is remarkably low. There is no management appliance VM, no per-node controller VM, and no separate storage software to feed. The specifications below cover what VergeOS itself needs; you will add capacity on top for your workloads.

VMware Bridge

In a VMware vSphere + vSAN environment, you must account for the vCenter Server Appliance (typically 4 vCPUs / 19 GB RAM minimum), plus vSAN overhead on every host, plus NSX Manager if you use network virtualization. VergeOS eliminates all of these. The 16 GB minimum RAM for VergeOS is the entire management-plane footprint per node — there is no separate appliance to size.

Nutanix Bridge

Nutanix requires a Controller VM (CVM) on every node, typically reserving 20—32 GB RAM and 4—8 vCPUs per host before a single guest VM is created. VergeOS has no CVM equivalent. The vSAN storage engine runs natively in the OS kernel, so there is no hidden per-node tax on your compute capacity.

Generic Requirements (All Node Types)

Every node in a VergeOS cluster — regardless of role — must meet these baseline requirements:

Component	Minimum Specification
CPU	AMD or Intel x86-64 with hardware virtualization support (VT-x / AMD-V)
RAM	16 GB dedicated to VergeOS (additional RAM sized for workloads)
Remote Management	IPMI, iDRAC, iLO, or equivalent out-of-band management
Disk Controller	NVMe direct-attached (preferred), or HBA / RAID controller in JBOD / IT mode — no hardware RAID
External NIC	1 x 1 GbE (Intel, NVIDIA Mellanox, or Broadcom)
Core Fabric NIC	1 x 10 GbE (Intel, NVIDIA Mellanox, or Broadcom)

No Hardware RAID

VergeOS manages data redundancy through its built-in vSAN (VergeFS). Hardware RAID controllers must be placed in JBOD or IT mode so that VergeOS can see and manage individual disks. Using RAID arrays hides disk health information and prevents VergeOS from performing its own data protection.

BIOS Settings Checklist

Before installation, verify these BIOS settings on every node:

• Boot mode: UEFI (required if all drives are NVMe)
• Hardware-assisted virtualization: Enabled (VT-x / AMD-V)
• Hyper-threading / SMT: Enabled
• All processor cores: Enabled
• System clocks: Synchronized across all nodes (within seconds)
• Secure Boot: Disabled

Controller Nodes (Node 1 and Node 2)

The first two nodes in any VergeOS system are the controller nodes. They host the vSAN metadata (Tier 0), manage cluster orchestration, and serve as the system’s management plane. Every VergeOS installation requires exactly two controller nodes for redundancy.

Minimum Specifications

Component	Specification	Notes
CPU	1 x 2.7 GHz+	Higher clock speed benefits metadata operations
RAM	16 GB + 1 GB per 1 TB of storage	The 1 GB/TB ratio is for vSAN metadata overhead
Tier 0 Storage	1 x Enterprise NVMe SSD (3+ DWPD)	Stores the vSAN hash map and filesystem index
Tier 0 Capacity	5 GB per 1 TB of usable capacity	Dedicated metadata storage

Recommended Specifications

Component	Specification	Notes
CPU	1 x 3.0 GHz+	Improves metadata and orchestration performance
Tier 0 Storage	2 x Enterprise NVMe SSD (3+ DWPD)	Redundant metadata configuration
Tier 0 Capacity	10 GB per 1 TB of usable capacity	Additional headroom for metadata growth

Tier 0 Is Metadata Only

Tier 0 stores the vSAN hash map and filesystem index — it is not a performance cache or a data tier. Sizing it correctly ensures fast lookups across the entire storage pool. The 3+ DWPD endurance requirement reflects the write-intensive nature of metadata updates.

Storage Nodes

Storage nodes participate in the vSAN and contribute disk capacity to the shared storage pool. In an HCI deployment, storage nodes also run workloads. In a UCI deployment, they may be dedicated exclusively to storage.

Minimum Specifications

Component	Specification	Notes
CPU	2.7 GHz+	Handles vSAN I/O processing
RAM	16 GB + 1 GB per 1 TB of raw storage	Per-node; scales with disk capacity
Primary Storage	1 x Enterprise NVMe or SAS/SATA SSD per node	For workload I/O (primary storage tier)
Capacity/Archive Tier (Tier 4+)	Enterprise HDDs (optional)	For snapshots, archives, or file-based services; tier assignment is fixed at install time — VergeOS does not automatically move data between tiers
Redundancy	At least 2 nodes with matching disk configuration	Required for vSAN data redundancy

Recommended Specifications

Component	Specification	Notes
CPU	3.0 GHz+, 1 core per disk	Dedicated core per disk improves I/O throughput
RAM	1.5 GB per 1 TB of storage per node	Better performance under heavy workloads
Primary Storage	2+ NVMe or SAS/SATA SSDs per node	More spindles = more IOPS
Redundancy	At least 2 nodes with matching disk configuration	Required for vSAN data redundancy

RAM Sizing Example

To illustrate the RAM calculation for a storage node:

Base VergeOS requirement:          16 GB
Storage overhead (8 TB raw x 1 GB): 8 GB
Workload VMs (example):           96 GB
─────────────────────────────────────────
Total RAM per node:              120 GB

At the recommended 1.5 GB/TB ratio, the storage overhead would be 12 GB instead of 8 GB, bringing the total to 124 GB.

Compute-Only Nodes

Compute-only nodes run workloads but do not participate in the vSAN. They have no local storage requirements beyond a boot device (or can PXE boot). This makes them ideal for scaling CPU and RAM independently from storage in UCI and HCI+Compute architectures.

Component	Specification
CPU	Sized for workload requirements
RAM	Sized for workload requirements (16 GB minimum for VergeOS)
Storage	Boot device only (or PXE boot) — no vSAN disks
Networking	Same generic NIC requirements as all nodes

Compute-only nodes are the simplest to size: determine the aggregate CPU and RAM your workloads need, divide by the per-node capacity, and round up to maintain N+1 availability.

Networking Recommendations

The minimum networking configuration (1 GbE external + 1 x 10 GbE core) is suitable for small or proof-of-concept deployments. For production environments, follow these recommendations:

Core Fabric NICs

2 x 25/40/100 GbE (Intel, NVIDIA Mellanox, or Broadcom). Dual NICs provide redundancy for the core fabric — the high-speed mesh that carries vSAN replication, VM migration, and inter-node traffic. Jumbo frames (MTU 9216+) are required on core fabric switches.

External NICs

2 x 10/25/40/100 GbE (Intel, NVIDIA Mellanox, or Broadcom). Dual external NICs support bonding for redundancy and bandwidth to the upstream network. These carry management UI access and tenant external traffic.

Supported NIC Vendors

VergeOS supports network adapters from three vendors:

• Intel — Broad compatibility across different series
• NVIDIA Mellanox — High-performance ConnectX series
• Broadcom — Enterprise-grade NICs

Caution

Consumer-grade or off-brand NICs are not supported. Using unsupported NICs may result in driver compatibility issues, poor performance, or system instability.

Maximum Supported Specifications

The following table outlines the maximum supported hardware specifications as of VergeOS version 4.12:

Resource	Maximum	Notes
Nodes per system	200	Across all clusters
Individual physical disk size	64 TB	Per physical drive
RAM per host	5 TB	vSAN nodes require 1 GB RAM per 1 TB storage
vDisk size	256 TB	Per virtual disk
Disks per VM	2,000	Requires Virtio-SCSI interface
Clusters per system	100	Mix of compute, storage, and HCI clusters
Storage tiers per system	5	Tier 0 (metadata) through Tier 5 (archive)
vSAN fault domains per system	2	Provides data redundancy

These limits accommodate extremely large-scale deployments. Most production environments operate well within these boundaries.

Storage Warnings and Considerations

Consumer-Grade Disks

Consumer-Grade Disks Not Supported

VergeOS does not officially support consumer-grade disks. Only enterprise-grade storage devices should be used in production environments and backups of production data. Consumer-grade disks may be acceptable for test, development, or proof-of-concept environments where data loss is tolerable. Some consumer-grade devices may not function properly due to firmware limitations, non-standard command implementations, or compatibility issues with VergeOS.

Large HDD Considerations

HDDs larger than 8 TB are not recommended outside of archive-specific environments. The concern is rebuild time — when a large HDD fails, the vSAN must rebuild its data across remaining drives. With an 8 TB+ drive, this rebuild can take many hours, during which:

• System performance is degraded as rebuild I/O competes with production workloads
• Availability risk increases because a second drive failure during rebuild could cause data loss
• The rebuild window grows proportionally with drive size

For primary workload tiers, prefer smaller, faster SSDs. Reserve large HDDs for snapshot retention, archival storage, or file-based service tiers where rebuild time is an acceptable trade-off.

Dedicated vs. Shared Controller Nodes

For production environments, VergeOS recommends dedicated controller nodes — nodes that handle only the vSAN metadata (Tier 0) and system management, without running guest workloads or contributing to workload storage tiers.

Approach	When to Use	Trade-off
Shared controllers	2-node clusters, PoC, dev/test	Fewer nodes, but metadata I/O competes with workloads
Dedicated controllers	Production, 4+ nodes	Extra nodes, but metadata operations are isolated and predictable

Sizing Quick Reference

Use this quick-reference card when scoping a new deployment:

Question	Guidance
How much RAM per storage node?	16 GB base + 1 GB per 1 TB raw (minimum) or 1.5 GB per 1 TB (recommended)
How many Tier 0 drives?	1 per controller (minimum), 2 per controller (recommended)
How large should Tier 0 be?	5 GB per 1 TB usable (minimum), 10 GB per 1 TB usable (recommended)
What DWPD for Tier 0?	3+ DWPD enterprise NVMe
How many cores per storage disk?	1 core per disk (recommended)
Minimum nodes for vSAN?	2 nodes with matching disk configuration
Maximum nodes per system?	200
Core fabric NIC speed?	10 GbE minimum; 25/100 GbE recommended

Next Steps

Now that you understand the hardware requirements for each node role, continue to:

• Reference Architectures — See how these requirements map to real-world deployment topologies (HCI, HCI+Compute, UCI)
• Customer Scoping — Learn the methodology for translating customer workloads into hardware specifications